Saudi Arabia’s economic vision explicitly seeks to deploy permanent residency permits as a means of developing the economy, though little is known about the precise growth-inducing channel that policymakers have in mind.

A new study suggests that creating an analogue to the US green card system may bolster innovation, an attractive corollary for the Gulf countries, all of which are seeking to enhance research and development within their economies.

Before exploring this new research, it is worth highlighting the mechanisms that the Saudi government most likely had in mind when it included green cards in Vision 2030. A salient one is the investment channel.